The New Nothing-To-Lose Rangers
After the fire sale that Rangers had a few weeks back, many Rangers fans were hoping for one thing and one thing only: tank for a high draft pick. Now, after sweeping the western Canada road trip, the Blueshirts find themselves seven points back from the second wild-card spot playing some carefree hockey.
For some of the Rangers players still on the roster, the trade deadline passing is certainly a relief, and that may be a cause for their winning form. The carefree attitude has produced some fun hockey to watch, even though it certainly isn’t sustainable. Although the victories bring hope to fans, what is being produced on the ice is still the reason the Rangers needed to sell in the first place.
During their three-game win streak, the Rangers let up a total of 143 shots, which includes back-to-back victories where Henrik Lundqvist had to face 50+ shots. A team that has relied on their All-Star goalie for many years now, continues to do so after waving the proverbial white flag. This is obviously not an effort that a winning hockey club puts on the ice night in and night out, so obviously changes need to be made.
And that is the end goal of the Rangers; addressing the issues at hand and deal with it the way the organization thinks is best. The “new-look” Rangers to close out the season gives a bunch of young guys the chance to show why they belong in the Big Apple for the rest of this year, and more importantly, next year. Don’t expect this team to rattle off win after win, but it is nice to see a Rangers hockey team win some games and have some fun doing so.
The lineup being put out for the rest of the season surely isn’t one that will be expected to reach into the playoffs, but just to see that it’s a “possibility” is welcoming to Ranger fans. Where the team goes from here on depends on where the Rangers will draft one of their three first-round draft picks in this year’s upcoming draft, so as a fan, there are two different sides to pull for. Watch this new team do their best to win games and make a late playoff push, or lose games to reach a higher draft pick. Tanking surely isn’t an option for the young guns getting their chance in the final stretch of the season, and as a fan, it’s nice to see some new guys shine and unlikely faces produce some wins for the Blueshirts.
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